Expressing concern over huge backlog of cheque bounce cases in various courts, the Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre and all the state governments to a plea for framing guidelines for their speedy disposal.While seeking responses of various governments, a bench of

Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Deepak Misra said it is "very

serious issue."

The court gave the order while hearing a PIL filed by

Indian Bank Association, which sought directions for speedy

trial of cheque bounce cases alleging that there are around

fifty lakh such cases pending in various courts.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the association

submitted that the Delhi High Court had recently framed some guidelines for such cases and it should be implemented across the country. The bench while issuing notice to the Centre and the states asked the association to conduct proper research on the issue.

The petitioner, an association of 174 banks and financial

institutions, submitted that huge sum of money gets blocked due to pendency of such large number of cases.